Pakistan not engaged in any peace talks with India: FM Qureshi

• FM Qureshi talks to Turkish media on talks with India and peace in Afghanistan.
• Says peace in Afghanistan is in Pakistan's interest, describes Islamabad's influence on Taliban as 'exaggerated'
• Says Pakistan ready to talk to India, but autonomy for Indian Occupied Kashmir has to be restored first.

ISTANBUL: Pakistan has categorically rejected that it is holding "any" peace talks with India through backdoor channels or with third-party mediation.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in an interview with TRT, a Turkish media outlet, noted that the UAE has good relations with both South Asian nuclear states, but there were no such talks going on between them. 

He was referring to media reports claiming that the two countries are engaged in secret talks to defuse tensions, with the UAE mediating the process.

The Gulf state's envoy to Washington, Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, had recently told a media outlet that the UAE played a role “in bringing Kashmir escalation down and created a ceasefire, hopefully ultimately leading to restoring diplomats and getting the relationship back to a healthy level”.

The statement had followed news reports that top decision makers had met behind closed doors on neutral soil to negotiate a defusion of the heightened tensions between the two countries. 

FM Qureshi told TRT that Pakistan "never shied away" from talks, but India has been doing so.

"We are not having any peace talks with India and UAE is not facilitating any such talk," he said.

Read more: UAE helping India, Pakistan reach 'healthy and functional' relationship, says senior diplomat

He said Pakistan is willing to sit down, but India will have to create a conducive environment vitiated by its unilateral August 5, 2019 action in Indian Occupied Kashmir, depriving the Kashmiris of their fundamental rights.

‘Pakistan’s influence over Taliban is exaggerated’

The foreign minister, in response to a question, reiterated that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan, and that the Government of Pakistan and all state institutions are on the same page on the issue.

To another question, the foreign minister said Pakistan’s influence in Afghanistan or over the Afghan Taliban is exaggerated.

He said the Taliban should not be blamed for all that is wrong in Afghanistan, as there are spoilers from within and outside who do not want peace in Afghanistan as well as in the region.

Qureshi said Pakistan does not want any terrorist organisation to gain a foothold in the region, "which is why we have been playing our role and have also started fencing of our border with Afghanistan to regulate border crossings."

Qureshi is in Turkey on a three-nation tour. He also visited UAE and Iran and held talks on regional peace, including the Afghan peace process.

He attended a conference on the issue in Istanbul, hosted by his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu.